Ebrima, congratulations to all the Gambians that attended this gathering to
expose the fraud in Dibba and the criminals running our country. It is our
duty as Gambians to expose these crooks where ever they surface. The
sycophants of this regime will be exposed for what they are and the
suffering of our citizens will not be swept under the rug. I am proud of
you'll for representing the views of a majority of Gambians.
Chi Jaama
Joe Sambou
>From: "Ebrima Ceesay" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>CC: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [>-<] Sheriff Dibba Taken To Task In London
>Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 23:17:18 +0000
>
>[ This e-mail is posted to Gambia|Post e-Gathering by "Ebrima Ceesay"
><[log in to unmask]> ]
>
>
>
>Dear Readers,
>
>The scheduled Royal Commonwealth Society public lecture, featuring the
>guest speaker Sheriff Mustapha Dibba (Speaker of the National Assembly of
>The Gambia), took place last night (Wednesday 22nd January 2003) at the
>Royal Commonwealth Society offices in West London.
>
>The public "lecture" on the theme "Consolidating Good Governance in The
>Gambia: What Role For The Parliament?" was attended by officials of the
>British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, by staff of the Commonwealth
>Secretariat in London, by friends of The Gambia (including one English man
>who taught Mrs Satang Jow at Gambia High School in the 1960’s!!), and by
>Gambians residing in the UK or visiting the UK at the moment.
>
>The "lecture" was moderated by Dr Karen Brewer, Secretary General of the
>Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association.
>
>Mr Dibba read from a prepared text and spoke for about one hour, after
>which questions and comments were allowed from the floor.
>
>I am still waiting to receive the official text of Mr Dibba’s speech, and
>so I am not able to do a comprehensive report at this time. The full text
>is in the hands of Mr Aime Sangara, Head of Public Affairs at the Royal
>Commonwealth Society. He has promised to forward this to me next week.
>
>The Royal Commonwealth Society plan to publish Mr Dibba’s speech in full on
>their webpage (www.rcsint.org). I told them that they also had a duty, in
>the name of fairness and objectivity, to similarly publish a rebuttal which
>I shall be undertaking, once I have received the full text of Mr Dibba’s
>speech.
>
>What follows in this message is my brief first report of what transpired at
>the public lecture. Please take note that there were occasions when Dibba
>spoke "off the cuff" or deviated from his prepared speech. Some of my notes
>below may well not appear in Dibba’s prepared text when this is published,
>but they do reflect the actuality of the meeting.
>
>Mr Dibba claimed that the PPP and former President Jawara were to be
>blamed for the 1994 Coup d’Etat, because Jawara overstayed his time in
>power. Dibba said that he personally welcomed the Coup and thanked the
>Coup leaders for the way in which they undertook their mission – not one
>drop of blood spilt !!
>
>Dibba went on to say that President Jawara had announced his decision to
>retire in 1992, but people around the president had persuaded him to stay
>in power. In Dibba’s view, this was a grave mistake.
>
>In Dibba’s view, democracy under President Jawara was just a façade. Dibba
>cited his own detention in 1981 to support his views. He said that he was
>illegally detained by the PPP regime, in connection with the ’81 abortive
>Coup, until he was later acquitted by a Court of Law.
>
>Dibba claimed that under Jawara, the electoral process was neither free nor
>fair, and that he himself during many elections was denied access to the
>media, and even in some cases, he was personally harassed. Dibba
>castigated the PPP and laid the blame for the past problems (and even the
>current 2003 problems in The Gambia) at the feet of the deposed Jawara
>regime.
>
>Dibba said that The Gambia, under Jammeh, is "progressing very well in most
>areas", that "there are human rights violations but these are very minimal"
>(he likened these to finding a needle in a haystack !). He told the
>audience that he was proud to have combined his party (the NCP) with the
>ruling party.
>
>He claimed that following his careful studies, that it was in the best
>interests of his party and himself to join up with the APRC. He said that
>the October 2001 Presidential Election, which he himself contested, was the
>fairest and free-est in the history of The Gambia !!!
>
>As for the new Constitution, Dibba said that it was the best in the
>sub-region in terms of its provisions, and that it guaranteed the rights
>and movement of Gambian citizens.
>
>First to react to Dibba’s comments was Mr Abdoulaye Jobe, a Gambian living
>in the UK. Mr Jobe rebutted Dibba’s claims, adding that based on the
>information he was receiving from the media and from people in The Gambia,
>the opposite was in fact happening. He said that the human rights record of
>the APRC regime was poor, that people were arbitrarily arrested and
>wrongfully dismissed from their jobs. He went on to say that the poverty
>in The Gambia had worsened, and he did his best to set the record straight
>for the audience.
>
>Next to speak was Mr Ebrima Chongan, the former Deputy Inspector General of
>Police in The Gambia, and now living in the UK. Chongan also took Dibba to
>task: he said that contrary to what Dibba was claiming, The Gambia under
>Jammeh left a lot to be desired in terms of good governance!
>
>He cited the dismissal by the Jammeh regime, of Justice Hassan Jallow from
>the High Court of The Gambia, and went on to remind the audience that the
>Constitution of The Gambia does not allow for this type of dismissal. He
>went on to catalogue the many human rights abuses of the APRC regime under
>Jammeh, and told Dibba that he, Chongan, was illegally detained by this
>present regime for 30 months at Mile Two Prison.
>
>Chongan said that the issue was not about the past, but rather about the
>need to confront present realities, and for Gambians to address these
>current issues.
>
>Following Chongan, James Bahoum of the Movement for the Restoration of
>Democracy in The Gambia (UK branch) completely shattered Dibba’s
>statements. Using his legal mind and his considerable oratory skills, Mr.
>Bahoum exposed Dibba as a propagandist and mouthpiece of the APRC regime.
>
>He set the record straight for the benefit of the audience, and painted a
>picture of the true Gambia of 2003 and since Jammeh came to power. He
>spoke eloquently about the repression, the poverty, the wrongful
>dismissals, the arbitrary arrests and corruption, all of which he noted to
>be growing by the minute.
>
>He reminded Dibba of the massacre of our students on April 10/11th 2000 and
>he noted how Jammeh indemnified all those who were connected with this
>terrible outrage, by the enactment of an Indemnity Act.
>
>By the end of his contribution to the lecture, James Bahoum had set the
>record straight and people were in no two minds about the state of affairs
>in present day Gambia.
>
>At this point, Tamsir Jallow, the Deputy High Commissioner for The Gambia
>in the UK, came to Dibba’s rescue. He described Jammeh’s regime as being
>good for the country, and he blamed the PPP and Jawara for whatever wrongs
>were happening in The Gambia today. Jallow regretted what happened on
>10/11th April 2000, and claimed that his own nephew was one of the victims.
>
>He then claimed that the present Indemnity Act was just an extension or an
>amendment of the 1981 Indemnity Bill, signed in to law by former President
>Jawara. He attempted to downplay the importance and significance of the
>current Indemnity Bill, saying that it was less draconian than the 1981
>Indemnity Bill of Jawara.
>
>Mr Ousman Manjang, former spokesman for MOJA, interrupted Tamsir Jallow and
>told him to shut up: Manjang pointed out very forcefully that the UK was
>NOT The Gambia, where APRC members or speakers could monopolise a public
>forum and present an unchallenged viewpoint.
>
>He also reminded Tamsir Jallow that he was NOT the guest speaker – this was
>Sheriff Dibba’s evening !! Tamsir duly took note, and sat down !!
>
>I then myself had the opportunity to take the floor, and I started by
>saying that as far as I am concerned, Dibba is an insignificant player in
>The Gambian scene of today. I told the audience that Dibba was not
>competent to answer my questions, and that I wanted Yahya Jammeh himself to
>face me and his critics in an open forum anywhere in the world (except The
>Gambia !!).
>
>Since however, Dibba was there and Jammeh was not, I went on to ask him
>some leading questions.
>
>I prefaced my questions with a heartfelt statement that I believed Dibba to
>be a Liar – "Mr Dibba, I put it to you that you are a Liar and an idle
>dreamer. You lied to this audience by painting a kind of Gambia which you
>know in your heart does not exist".
>
>I then went on to tell him that many Gambians are sick and tired of his
>type, and that of Tamsir Jallow. People like them just keep spinning for
>Jammeh or telling lies on his behalf.
>
>The moderator of the lecture interrupted me and asked me to rephrase my
>questions and comments in quieter language. She objected to me publicly
>calling Dibba "a liar", but I did insist that I stood by my words and that
>in the name of fairness and objectivity, the Royal Commonwealth Society had
>an obligation to publish my rebuttal of Dibba’s text.
>
>At this point, Dibba was very angry: he lost his temper as much as I had.
>
>I asked him to describe to the audience the content of the Media Commission
>Bill and explain to the audience how this Bill could consolidate good
>governance in The Gambia.
>
>In reply, Dibba, of course, failed to convince people that the Bill
>represented good governance. Nonetheless, he claimed that journalists did
>need to be checked and that he had no problems with the Bill and its
>provisions.
>
>Ousman Manjang and O.J Jallow (currently visiting the UK) demanded the
>opportunity to contribute to the discussion, but the Moderator brought the
>meeting to a close, saying that "time was up".
>
>It was a good forum and there was time for both sides to air their views. I
>am sure that Mr Dibba has learned a good lesson, that he may not take
>Gambians for a ride any more.
>
>I really do urge Gambians to attend meetings such as this one, in order
>that we can present OUR case. If no Gambian had been present at this
>particular lecture, then many officials in the West could have been misled
>and duped into believing that all was well in the state of The Gambia. As
>we know, this is far from the case. Hopefully, we conveyed our opposition
>and our evidence for it, to the forum.
>
>
>Ebrima Ceesay,
>Birmingham, UK
>
>
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